Fish Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ fish species — freshwater, saltwater, reef, and pelagic — with habitat, size, diet, behavior, and how to tell them apart.
X-ray Tetra
A translucent coastal South American characin whose see-through body and bold black-white-yellow fin markings make it instantly recognizable.
brackish
Percula Clownfish
A bright orange anemonefish with three bold white bars outlined in black, famous for its symbiotic partnership with sea anemones on western Pacific reefs.
reef
Zebra Turkeyfish
A dwarf lionfish species boldly striped in reddish-brown and white, with broad, fan-like pectoral fins used to corner small prey against reef rubble.
reef
Sebae Clownfish
A dark brown clownfish with a bold yellow tail and two white body bars, native to reefs of the northern Indian Ocean and closely tied to the sebae sea anemone.
reef
Pennant Coralfish
A black-and-white butterflyfish relative known for its long pennant-like dorsal filament, often mistaken for a juvenile Moorish idol as it drifts in loose reef aggregations.
reef
Cuckoo Wrasse
A vividly patterned wrasse of the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean, with males displaying bold blue and orange stripes and females a softer pink patterned with black-edged white spots.
reef
Cinnamon Clownfish
A deep reddish-orange clownfish with dark shading across the body and a single white head bar, living among sea anemones on coral reefs of the western Pacific.
reef
Convict Cichlid
A small, hardy Central American cichlid named for its bold black-and-white striped pattern, popular in aquariums for its easy care and attentive parenting behavior.
freshwater
Black Crappie
A silvery panfish mottled with irregular dark speckling, closely related to the White Crappie but preferring clearer water, and one of the most popular schooling panfish in North America.
freshwater
Pink Skunk Clownfish
A pale pink anemonefish with a single white stripe running down its back, found living among sea anemones on reefs across the Indo-Pacific.
reef
Green Spotted Puffer
A small, popular aquarium puffer with a bright green, black-spotted back and white belly, native to brackish estuaries and mangrove creeks across Southeast Asia.
brackish
Giant Oceanic Manta Ray
The largest ray in the world, a black-and-white filter feeder with enormous triangular pectoral fins and distinctive cephalic lobes used to funnel plankton into its mouth.
cartilaginous
Firefish Goby
A slender white-and-orange reef fish with a tall, flag-like first dorsal fin, often seen hovering near its burrow on sandy slopes.
reef
Black Neon Tetra
A small Brazilian tetra marked by a bold black horizontal stripe paired with a shimmering silvery-white line above it, a popular schooling fish in freshwater aquariums.
freshwater
Banggai Cardinalfish
The Banggai Cardinalfish is a striking silver-and-black fish with long trailing fins and bold white spots, native to a tiny area of Indonesia and listed as Endangered in the wild.
reef
Zebra Pleco
A small, strikingly patterned armored catfish endemic to the Rio Xingu in Brazil, prized in the aquarium trade for its bold black-and-white stripes but critically endangered by dam construction.
freshwater
Spotted Scorpionfish
A heavily camouflaged reef fish with mottled brown, red, and white patterning and venomous dorsal spines, blending seamlessly into coral rubble and rocky bottom across the western Atlantic.
reef
Fourstripe Damselfish
A white damselfish marked with three bold black bars plus a black tail, forming a four-banded pattern as it hovers around branching coral on Indo-Pacific reefs.
reef
Copper Rockfish
A coppery-brown rockfish with a pale pink-white band along the back half of its body, commonly found near rocky structure and eelgrass beds close to shore.
saltwater
Bluespine Unicornfish
A large Indo-Pacific tang with a bony forehead horn and paired fixed blue-white spines at the tail base, browsing brown macroalgae on coral reefs and reef flats.
reef
Argentine Pearlfish
A deep-bodied annual killifish from the pampas of Argentina and Uruguay, marked with pearly white spots. It lives in seasonal ponds and survives dry months as diapausing eggs in the mud.
freshwater
Two-Banded Clownfish
An orange anemonefish with two broad white bars, the characteristic clownfish of the Red Sea and adjacent Gulf of Aden reefs, always found sheltering among host anemones.
reef
Koran Angelfish
A large Indo-Pacific angelfish whose adults show a blue-green body scattered with pearly blue spots and lines, while striking juveniles display concentric blue and white circular bands.
reef
Stars and Stripes Puffer
A widespread Indo-Pacific puffer, also called the whitespotted puffer, marked with fine white spots on an olive-brown body and dark rings encircling the eyes and pectoral fin bases.
reef